Isaiah Sharkey

PRESENTS

Advanced Gospel Guitar

Spice up your playing with essential gospel chords and concepts.

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WHo it's for

Intermediate guitarists

Hit a playing plateau? Looking for new sounds? Pro touring guitarist Isaiah Sharkey is here to help you level up.

Time

3 weeks

Isaiah will guide you through four sections of step-by-step instruction with interactive TAB and assignments.

Outcome

Learn gospel.
Find your voice.

Learn the ways of gospel guitar and develop your own voice as a guitarist.

Keep going

Take the next step

Once you've mastered this class, keep progressing with advanced Master Classes and guided practice plans.

What you'll learn

Join Isaiah as he breaks down chords and skills to play gospel quartet guitar and helps you find your voice.

Develop the ability to play what you hear
Spice up your chordal playing with gospel harmony
Learn about Isaiah's touring time with John Mayer

Curriculum

Stay focused with this step-by-step learning program designed by our expert team of music educators.

How it works

Your guided learning pathway

In this four-part Master Class, you'll study gospel guitar concepts and learn how to craft your own unique sound. These are the same techniques that Isaiah uses when he’s touring and recording with artists like John Mayer and D’Angelo.

How to Find Your Voice

To kick off the class, Isaiah breaks down the journey to authentic self-expression as a guitarist.

This section includes lessons on how to play what you hear and turn licks into concepts.

Chords & Harmony

Next, you'll dive into the world of gospel harmony with techniques to improve your chordal skills and map out your fretboard.

Isaiah studied under Chalmers "Spanky" Alford – one of the most influential gospel guitarists in the world – these lessons are jam-packed with insight from his experience as Spanky's student.

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YouTube Videos (and the Concepts Behind Them)

In this section, Isaiah pulls back the curtain on the playing in some of his most popular YouTube videos, including performances with John Mayer. How cool is that?

Part IV. Songs from "Love is the Key"

To wrap up the class, Isaiah walks you through the theory and concepts behind three songs from his album Love is the Key.

3-week Plan

Part I. How to Find Your Voice

Demistify what it means to find your voice as a guitarist.

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In Part I, Isaiah breaks down how to play what you hear, how to hone in on your unique voice, and the importance of turning licks into concepts. This section also includes an advanced improvisation by Isaiah along with fascinating bonus lessons on touring with John Mayer and quartet playing.

Part II. Chords & Harmony

Next, Isaiah breaks down how to improve your chordal skills.

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In Part II, Isaiah walk you through how to navigate your guitar neck, play chords across the fretboard, and add melodies to chords. This section is packed with material including a breakdown of the influence that “Spanky” Alford had on Isaiah’s playing.

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After challenging you to learn Isaiah’s unique arrangement of Amazing Grace, we’ll finish up this section with two interlude lessons on George Benson’s picking technique and a discussion on how to develop rhythm and feel.

Part III. YouTube Videos (and the Concepts Behind Them)

Learn what's going on in Isaiah's head when he's jamming out with John Mayer.

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In this section, Isaiah breaks down five of his most popular YouTube videos (TABs are included as always) and wraps up with an interlude lesson on how to prepare for a session.

Part IV. Songs from "Love is the Key"

Wrap up the class with a practical exploration of Isaiah's approach to songwriting.

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In this section, we'll wrap up the Master Class with a breakdown of three songs from Isaiah's latest album Love is the Key. Isaiah will guide you through the chords and techniques in his songs. We'll challenge you to use the accompanying videos to match Isaiah’s chord shapes and rhythm, or make the songs your own.

REAL students

Don’t take our word for it, take theirs

What guitarists love about this course

Improve your playing or get your money back

We’re so confident that we can improve your playing that we’re underwriting your membership with a 60-day satisfaction guarantee.

Your Instructor

Isaiah Sharkey

Learn how to find your unique voice and fuel your playing with gospel concepts from John Mayer and D'Angelo's go-to touring guitarist.

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What’s in every Pickup Music membership?

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1,000+ Lessons

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Live lessons every week

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Frequently asked questions

Are you a guitar, bass or piano player who feels like you haven’t made progress in a few months… years… or even decades?
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You’re probably stuck in what’s called the ‘intermediate plateau’. This is very common and can be very frustrating.

What’s the cause? Well, it’s pretty easy to learn the basics on any instrument. Learn a few chords and you can play hundreds of other songs. Learn a couple of scales and you can play some lead.

But what then? Triads? Modes? Arpeggios? The phrygian scale?!

Without a clear plan and learning system you fall back to playing the same things over and over again. Or you bounce around free lessons online but nothing seems to stick. It’s a recipe for a lot of practice without much progress.

That’s where Pickup Music can help. We specialize in taking players stuck in a rut and turning them into advanced musicians.

We do this through Learning Pathways that take you on a step-by-step journey towards mastery. We give you a highly structured system that shows you exactly what to work on each week to make serious progress.

These Learning Pathways take the guesswork out of your practice routine. You are guided through a proven grade-by-grade system with daily lessons, play-along practice exercises and interactive workouts.

But it’s not all about theory. We apply everything you learn to real music. That’s why every grade of our Learning Pathways build up to performing a song with a live backing band. This simulates what it’s like to play a real gig, with real musicians. It’s the absolute best way to learn.

You can also get 1-on-1 video feedback on your playing from our expert coaches and can attend weekly live lessons. This personal feedback makes Pickup Music the closest thing to taking in-person lessons, but at a fraction of the cost.

So does this method actually work? Will you see results in your playing?

The most common thing we hear from new members is that they’ve made more progress with Pickup Music in a few months than in years of teaching themselves. As one member recently told us, “I'm finally seeing progress for the first time in many years”.

Want to hear about other members’ experiences with us? Read our independent Trustpilot reviews.